Baseball picks up 7-3 win over Illinois College

By: Andrew Korba

FORT MYERS (Fla.) -- Junior Jack LaMarca went 2-for-3 with a run and RBI to lead the Ohio Northern baseball team to a 7-3 win over Illinois College at the Gene Cusic Classic on Tuesday.

The Polar Bears move to 2-2 on the season, while the Blueboys fall to 3-2.

Sophomore Cody Meyer also collected two hits and scored two runs.

LaMarca sparked a two run first inning for Northern, by drawing a two out walk and advancing to second on a passed ball.

Junior Dan Belliveau followed with a double to left, scoring LaMarca and sophomore Nick Guitar followed with a single to score Belliveau and make it 2-0.

After IC plated a run in the top of the second, ONU came back with three of its own in the bottom half of the inning.

Sophomore Clay Small drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a walk by sophomore Nick Eltzroth.

Meyer dropped down a bunt and an error by the pitcher allowed Small to score and moved Eltzroth to third.

Junior Brady Foley followed with a sac fly, scoring Eltzroth and making it 4-1 in favor of the Polar Bears.

LaMarca then laced a single to right, driving in Meyer.

The Blueboys added a run in the third to cut the ONU lead to 5-2, but Northern tacked on a run in the fourth to make it 6-2.

Illinois College would score a run in the seventh, but LaMarca tripled and scored on a wild pitch in ONU's half of the seventh, making the score 7-3.

Senior Matt Magni recorded a save, striking out Jonathan Schrage with the tying run on deck to end the game.

Senior Tyler Deitering went six innings for the Polar Bears, striking out four, for his first win of the season.

Ohio Northern will take a day off before returning to action on Thursday with games against Widener (Pa.) at noon and Olivet (Mich.) at 3 pm.